Why would I want to go anywhere other than Tottenham? Resurgent defender commits future to Lilywhites

Resurgent Tottenham defender Matt Doherty has seemingly reiterated his happiness at Tottenham in a recent interview when questioned about whether he came close to leaving the club in January.

Reports linked the Republic of Ireland defender, then struggling to get a game under Antonio Conte, with a return to Wolves in the January transfer window, perhaps as a makeweight for Adama Traore to move to north London in return. Such a move never materialised, however.

Matt Doherty celebrates scoring the first goal during their Premier League clash with Leeds United in February (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images).

And now, two months after the close of the window, Doherty is back to some of his best career form, and has unseated summer addition Emerson Royal to nail down a spot in Antonio Conte’s Spurs side, rewarding his manager with two goals and three assists in his last 6 starts for the lilywhites.

But did he ever come close to leaving? Well, not in the eyes of the 30-year-old, who questioned where he would want to go aside from Spurs.

‘I didn’t come close [to leaving]’, he told the media. ‘I never had a conversation, nothing was ever said to me. From my point of view I was led to believe that I wasn’t going anywhere.

‘I don’t know if that’s the case, that is what my point of view was. You have thoughts at times that it wasn’t working out, I just decided that I wanted to train hard and I wanted to play here’, Doherty added.

And, the defender seemed to suggest he was very happy at Spurs, questioning where else he might spend his future.

‘Why would I want to go anywhere apart from Tottenham? I thought if I keep training hard and I keep doing what the manager wants the opportunity would come and it would be up to me to grasp the opportunity and at the moment I seem to be doing that well.’

Tottenham ‘miracle’ alive and kicking?

The 5-1 hammering of Newcastle United on Sunday has got Tottenham fans once more dreaming of a spot in the top four come the end of the season, and the Champions League football that comes with it.

Antonio Conte has previously warned that his side need a ‘miracle’ to finish fourth, but Arsenal should drop points against Crystal Palace in a tricky game at Selhurst Park, the outcome of Tottenham’s season will once again be in their own hands as they host Arsenal in the rescheduled north-London derby at the end of the season.

Should Spurs find some consistency at this key point of their season, fourth spot and north London bragging rights could yet be theirs.

Read more:

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Inter Milan set Lautaro Martinez price tag amid Arsenal and Tottenham interest

This article was edited by
Josh Barker.

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Premier League table

#	Team	MP	D	P
1	Manchester City	30	52	73
2	Liverpool FC	30	57	72
3	Chelsea FC	29	35	59
4	Arsenal FC	28	13	54
5	Tottenham Hotspur	29	11	51
6	Manchester United	30	8	51
7	Wolverhampton Wanderers	31	6	49
8	West Ham United	30	10	48
9	Leicester City	28	-4	37
10	Aston Villa	30	0	36
11	Southampton FC	30	-9	36
12	Crystal Palace	29	1	34
13	Brighton & Hove Albion	30	-10	34
14	Brentford FC	31	-11	33
15th	Newcastle United	29	-17	31
16	Leeds United	31	-33	30
17	Everton FC	27	-18	25
18	Watford FC	30	-28	22
19	Burnley FC	28	-18	21
20	Norwich City	30	-45	18

Player	Team	Goals
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	20
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur	14
Jota, Diogo	Liverpool FC	14
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur	12
Ronaldo, Cristiano	Manchester United	12
Mane, Sadio	Liverpool FC	12
Tony, Ivan	Brentford FC	11
Mahrez, Riyad	Manchester City	10
De Bruyne, Kevin	Manchester City	10
Sterling, Raheem	Manchester City	10
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City	10
Bowen, Jarrod	West Ham United	9
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	9
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	9
Saka, Bukayo	Arsenal FC	9
Rafinha	Leeds United	9
Smith-Rowe, Emile	Arsenal FC	9
Zaha, Wilfried	Crystal Palace	9
Mount, Mason	Chelsea FC	8
Antonio, Michael	West Ham United	8

Player	Team	Red Cards	Yellow Cards
Neves, Ruben	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0	9
Mings, Tyrone	Aston Villa	0	9
Mctominay, Scott	Manchester United	0	9
Firpo, Junior	Leeds United	0	9
Salisu, Mohammed	Southampton FC	0	8
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	0	7
Gallagher, Conor	Crystal Palace	0	8
Moreno, Rodrigo	Leeds United	0	8
Cash, Matty	Aston Villa	0	8
McGinn, John	Aston Villa	0	8
Tarkowski, James	Burnley FC	0	8
Shaw, Luke	Manchester United	0	8
Romeu, Oriol	Southampton FC	0	8
Brownhill, Josh	Burnley FC	0	8
Maguire, Harry	Manchester United	0	7
Romero, Christian	Tottenham Hotspur	0	8
Bissouma, Yves	Brighton & Hove Albion	0	8
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	0	7
Pogba, Paul	Manchester United	1	6
Jimenez, Raul	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0	5

Player	Team	Assists
Alexander-Arnold, Trent	Liverpool FC	11
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	10
Robertson, Andy	Liverpool FC	10
Pogba, Paul	Manchester United	9
Bowen, Jarrod	West Ham United	8
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur	7
Mount, Mason	Chelsea FC	7
Lacazette, Alexandre	Arsenal FC	7
Barnes, Harvey	Leicester City	7
Jesus, Gabriel	Manchester City	7
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur	6
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	6
Antonio, Michael	West Ham United	6
Benrahma, Said	West Ham United	6
James, Rece	Chelsea FC	6
Mbeumo, Bryan	Brentford FC	6
Cancelo, Joao	Manchester City	6
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	5
Saka, Bukayo	Arsenal FC	5
Ings, Danny	Aston Villa	5